The sign says, "STOP." It does NOT say, "PAUSE," or "BLINK AND GO," or "GUN IT!" But I am beginning to think that the STOP sign ought to be changed to read, "GOOD LUCK!" The disregard of stop signs is a daily nightmare in my neighborhood, and I recently realized that it is a fear for the entire city, and more than likely is a nationwide threat.
I teach reading. One of the first words that children learn to read is STOP. Unfortunately, they must have all forgotten what it means! Websters says that its definition is, "to cease to go on." That means coming to a complete halt. No more moving. Dead still.
Every day I leave my home and drive in peril, fearing that each red octogonal sign is being obeyed by only one driver: ME. I have had to come to screeching halts, dodge to the left or right, or come to a complete stop WITHOUT A STOP SIGN, as some idiot darts out in front of me, disobeying the sign that told HIM/HER to "cease to go on."
I look at these people as they put themselves ahead of my life's safety, and for the most part they look like normal individuals. Their tongues are not hanging out at the sides of their mouths, their eyeballs are not rolling around in circles, yet they put their one-second-ahead-of-when-they-get-there ahead of the safety of every other living being around them. (Specifically, ME.)
Between the ages of sixteen and twenty, I personally paid for three stop signs. By that I mean I was arrested, had to go to traffic courts, and paid fines. Three times. Two of those were at a neighborhood STOP sign that I coasted through, driving a stick-shift Falcon, trying to save the motion of having to downshift. At that time, the traffic cost was "only" forty dollars a shot. I might add that this was the SAME stop sign, two times, where a vigilant policeman had sat in his patrol car waiting for me.
The third offense was in a university city where I was racing to get to my class on time, cup of coffee lodged between my knees, music blaring on the car radio, and BINGO............this time it was sixty dollars. That policeman was loud and offended that I could break a law in HIS city, and he didn't hesitate to tell me so.
Guess what? For the rest of my life (no kidding), I have STOPPED at any sign that says STOP. I have mentally counted to three until it has become second nature to do so. And I have never paid for another STOP sign, either. (Knock on wood.)
I have been late to work, late to events, rolled in at the last possible moment for meetings, but I have never put anybody else's LIFE ahead of my need for speed because of a red sign that asked me to STOP. (I also don't crash red lights, but that's another post.)
I have, however, mentally ripped the heads off of STOP sign crashers. I have bashed them over their brainless heads, in my mind, with the very STOP sign that they so cavalierly disregarded as they put my life in jeopardy. I have called them every conceivable viscious name that they deserve as I continue on my way, knees knocking, (coffee spilling.) I have prayed for their safety and forgiveness, even, and hoped that they are not responsible for small children whose welfare depends upon them. And I have feared them enough to slow down whenever I see a car approach a STOP sign that is perpendicular to the road I am travelling.
I have learned not to trust the drivers on these roads, even though they (supposedly) passed the same driver's test that I did. (Did they have No Driver Left Behind testing? Did EVERYONE get the license, even though the basic requirements.........like READING AND COMPREHENSION.........were supposed to be in force?) Did they CHEAT on their driving tests? Know someone "in the business?" Buy a fake driver's license at some corner gas station, from a guy who mass-produces them in his basement? Makes ya wonder, doesn't it?
If I am preachy today, it's because my very life was threatened twice this morning alone. I might not BE here to warn you, had I not swerved to avoid Leadfoot, and stopped to let Fast Eddie go ahead of me. ( Those are NOT the names I called them in real life............but this is a public blog.) No, I did not wave hands or fingers at them, either. I figure that anybody stupid enough to crash STOP signs probably has an automatic weapon in his car and also isn't afraid to use IT either. He just tried to kill me with his car, after all.
We have daily "threat level" readings for our country's worry over terrorist activity. I guarantee you that the "terrorists" are already here, and they're driving on our roads and city streets, posing as average "citizens," with driver's licenses (real or not) in their wallets. We have to counteract their terrorist threats by watching out for THEM, because they apparently cannot READ, and do NOT care about the rest of us.
Many years ago I paid money I could not afford to pay fines for my STOP sign violations. I wonder, frequently, where is that "cop" who waited for me in the early morning hours, and the "university patroller" who gave me the tongue-lashing as my coffee cup shivered between my knees? Why are THEY not lingering in the dark, arresting "Leadfoot" and "Fast Eddie" when THEY crash through those STOP signs, and DON'T?
I promise you that if it were not for that "cop" and that "patroller," I might not be here and driving, safely, stopping at STOP signs, as I am today. "Thank you!" to those law officers, who I may have referred to in a nonflattering way back then, wherever they are today. They may have saved my entire life. I wish they'd save some more.
copyright: KP Gillenwater
